The utility industry is a dynamic and ever-changing landscape with no shortage of topics to discuss. I'll be writing a recap each month of some interesting news shaping the utility industry, and I invite readers to contribute and share their thoughts as well. During April, the topics that were of most interest to me ranged from California legislation to utility mergers: ...
Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. announced that it has extended its PATT precision automotive thin film chip resistor family with devices in the 0402 and 1206 case sizes. The devices are available with gold-plated terminals for conventional solder assembly and conductive glueable board mount technologies. Providing an 85°C extension in operating temperature range over most c...
Radar is now frequently incorporated into automotive driver assistance systems (ADAS), and ARTS can be used to test automotive radar sensors during development and production. R&S’s FSW signal and spectrum analyzer performs real-time characterization of the chirp signals, while the ARTS automotive radar target simulator supplements this test solution by adding realistic ...
Thus, with the maximum memory installed (/M3 option), it can capture a 10-kHz signal lasting for more than one hour in single-shot mode. The same memory can capture a 200-ms signal at a 1.25-Gsample/s rate. In addition, built-in flash memory capacity was increased from 0.1 to 0.33 Gbytes. The new extended memory option has a capacity of 7.2 Gbytes. Enhancements to ...
Modular Phones Forum: Toshiba presents its work on camera module design for Google Project Ara modular phones. Shardul Kazi, SVP from Toshiba America, says: "We’ve been engaged in Ara program for more than a year now. Engagement started because of Toshiba’s involvement in the standards committee of MIPI UniPro, and UniPro is a backbone of the Ara phone. So we know Uni...
While you might’ve found out by now that your desktop FDM 3D printer can be used to produce very cool and useful accessories – from pen cases, to watch straps and phone cases – who would’ve thought to 3D print a new pair of glasses? Well you can, and it’s even remarkably easy to do with the very useful code made by the New York-based software designer Jenny. This very...
The specific functions are synchronous operation (1:1 or with gear ratio), camming and positioning of the synchronous axes. The new functions are part of the DCB (Drive Control Block) extension function block library General Motion Control (GMC), which is available for downloading from the Siemens Industry Support web pages. The company says the advanced technology f...
Hexagon Metrology says its new 7.10.7 SF shop floor CMMs are specially designed to operate in harsh industrial environments. The new CMM’s computer, controller and interface boxes are housed in a self-contained unit for easy transport on the shop floor. It has a measuring stroke of 710mm x 1010mm x 680mm, and uses standard 110/220 volt single phase outlets with no ne...
Today’s company networks comprise hundreds of devices: routers for directing data packets to the right receiver, firewall components for protecting internal networks from the outside world, and network switches. Such networks are extremely inflexible because every component, every router and every switch can carry out only the task it was manufactured for. If the network...
Airports are now subject to careful security surveillance, but many coastal towns and ports are not; they often lack radar installations to keep track of small boats, meaning terrorists could easily use speedboats to approach the coastline and bring explosives on land. Now, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Communication, Information Processing and Ergonomics F...
This will make it possible to precisely reconstruct even the processes going on inside materials and e.g. provide a reliable way of detecting minoscule faults. In medicine, X-rays provide high-resolution images of our insides to help doctors make a definitive diagnosis. Industry uses X-rays, too – as a reliable, non-destructive way of seeing what’s hidden on insid...
We encounter magnetic field sensors everywhere today – but few of us know it. These sensors make sure washing machines run concentrically, that headlights automatically adjust to the correct angle if a car is heavily loaded, or that we are warned if a seatbelt is not fastened right. If a mechanical movement is transformed into a rotation, the magnetic sensor detects this...
The sharper the image, the darker it is. A novel optical approach brings brightness and sharpness together for the first time on screens of any curvature – and additionally allows about 10,000-times faster projection rates. Researchers will be presenting their technology November 4-6 at Vision 2014 in Stuttgart. (Hall 1, Booth G42) The logo glows above the overhan...
They are used, for example, to monitor the status of the engines on airplanes, or for medical implants. They gather the energy they need for this from their immediate environment - from vibrations, for instance. Fraunhofer researchers have developed a process for the economical production of piezoelectric materials. They will unveil a preliminary demonstration model at t...
“Wind turbines oscillate with displacements of up to a meter in magnitude, even at normal wind speeds. This represents a large load for the material, which can lead to damage and worst case to failure of an installation,” says Dr. Ilja Kaufmann from the Optronics Department of IOSB in Ettlingen. For this reason, operators continuously check how strong the oscillations ar...
The collaborative engineering and manufacturing firm Local Motors has announced that the car in this illustration will be 3D printed at this year’s International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS). This car design—called “Strati” by its creator, Michele Anoé of Italy—was the winner out of more than 200 entries submitted to Local Motors’ 3D Printed Car Design Challenge....
Abstract What industries would find this most relevant? Chemicals Food, beverage, or tobacco Pharmaceuticals Which of your engineering specialties does this project best illustrate? Automation and control engineering (including designs and implementation) Control panels (including fabrication, installation, and UL listing) Data colle...
Abstract In conjunction with that expansion project, they have also replaced land line transmission to cellular circuits. Because cellular charges are flat rate unlimited usage the City is saving hundreds of dollars per month in telephone charges. What industries would find this most relevant? Chemicals Government or military Utilities or telecommunic...
The Defender line of calibration instrumentation target portable or laboratory applications with DryCal technology for fast, ±1% of reading calibrations. Three instruments are available. The Defender 510 is a volumetric primary flow standard while the Defender 520 is an enhanced volumetric primary flow standard that also records ambient temperature and pressure condition...
A door has been opened to low-power off/on switches in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectronic devices, as well as ultrasensitive bio-sensors, with the first observation of piezoelectricity in a free standing two-dimensional semiconductor by a team of researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkele...
Fraunhofer researchers intend to boost efficiency with a new approach to digital logistics, without sacrificing the security of air freight operations. Thousands of freight items are shipped by plane every day, around seventy percent of them in airliners. Stringent controls are supposed to prevent hazardous substances such as explosives from being smuggled on boar...
Steel, aluminum, magnesium, fiber-reinforced plastics: cars are built from a wide array of materials today. These have to be connected with each other reliably. To wit: even if the joints become loose in a crash, passengers must face no greater risk of injury than before. Manufacturers use their welding equipment for cars made entirely of steel. However, if you want to c...
There is a remarkable density of world-famous companies in San Jose, where names such as Apple, Google, and Facebook can be found. Silicon Valley stands for ingenuity, software developments, and unconventional people. Industry has now discovered this for itself. At first glance, you might think that industry and Silicon Valley would not be compatible. But if you take ...
